1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of small footprint, resource-constrained devices such as handheld computers, personal data assistants (PDAs), cellular phones, etc. More particularly, the present invention comprises a system and method for pushing personalized content to small footprint devices.
2. Description of the Relevant Art
The field of “smart” small footprint devices is growing and changing rapidly. Small footprint devices include handheld computers, personal data assistants (PDAs), cellular phones, global positioning system (GPS) receivers, game consoles, and many more such devices. These devices are becoming more intelligent and interconnected. Technologies such as Jini from Sun Microsystems, Inc. and initiatives such as the Open Service Gateway Initiative (OSGI) are expanding the traditional concepts of computer networks to include small footprint devices.
This increased device interconnection has introduced a need for both new types of computing services and new ways to integrate computing services, both inter-device-based and intra-device-based services. A “service” is an entity implemented within or accessible from a device that can be used by a person, an application, or another service. The concept of a service is broad and can be considered at many different scales. For example, services include familiar network-based services such as shared printing, email, telephony, etc. Services also include less familiar examples such as an energy management service which may control the power consumption of devices within a local network, a diagnostic service which allows a device to send information to a service technician when an error occurs, a health-monitoring service which immediately notifies health professionals of an emergency, etc.
Services also include modules or applications located and executable within a local machine or device. For example, local application programs may utilize a calendar service, a contact list service, a bookmark service, etc. In this example, an application program may use these services together to allow a user to select a person from the contact list, record an appointment time for a meeting with the person, and create a bookmark for easy access to the appointment entry.
It is becoming more common today to execute multiple services and applications together in a single small footprint device. However, since memory, processing power, and other resources are typically very limited in small footprint devices, a specialized lightweight containment framework is necessary to achieve the desired integration of services and applications. It is also desirable that the framework be flexible and extendable enough to provide support for any types of services and applications for any kind of small footprint device. A further goal is that the framework be compatible and integrated with off-device services such as services available to devices in a Jini network. Such a lightweight, extendable, network service-compatible application/service containment framework is described herein.
The service integration enabled by the application/service containment framework enables services executing on small footprint devices to operate in conjunction with network-based services in order to gather and deliver personalized information to a small footprint device user. A system and method for delivering personalized content such as advertisements are presented herein.